A Mark of Love
by Ninny Weasley
Summary: Is it easier to say in death what you could not say in life? Rating for character death.


AN: Just in case you haven't read my other fics (btw I do recommend them – they're all very different, but still quite good imho ) I'd just like to restate the fact that I am and avid R/Hr shipper, but I just write what comes into my head. This fic just seemed to work better as a D/Hr. I still think it's good, even though it's not my ship. Have a read and tell me what you think.

Avada Kedavra

By Ninny Weasley

~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~

She'd been out here before; contemplating. Suicide had always been a temptation for her, but when it came to jumping, she could never do it. Something inside of her always told her that if she'd just hold on one more day, something would change. Something would happen in her life, and she'd have a reason to live again. She had her books and her lessons – oh yes, they all thought that this was what kept her going, but they didn't know her. They didn't know that every night for the last term she had been coming here, to the top of the astronomy tower, preparing to end it all.

She had arranged herself like usual – she was standing on the thin ledge on the outside of the railings, back against the rail, arms hooked over it behind her to keep her balance. She had stumbled a few times, but never come close to falling. No, if she was doing to die out here, she would do it on purpose.

Tears streamed down her face as she stared down below her, searching for that tiny glimmer of hope that made her climb back over the railings each night and go back to bed. Every night it was getting harder to find.

"Hermione!" 

She started, swinging around wildly, although she already knew who it was that spoke, for his voice had haunted her dreams for years now. As she swung her head around to face him, her foot slipped on the ledge. She gasped and gripped the railing tighter as her other foot slid off the ledge, and her face crushed briefly against the railings as she fell to face them. Her eyes widened as she slid, now hanging from the railings, her whole body dangling over the ledge, and as the jolt pulled her fingers free, she opened her mouth in a silent scream. Her last thoughts were of the boy who startled her into falling as she plummeted towards the ground, her small body crumpling on the pavement and then laying still.

Draco had watched, unable to move from shock for a moment, but that was all the time it took for her to fall from her perch above him to the hard pavement he was standing on. He ran to her as soon as she had hit the ground, knowing already that anything he could have done to save her would be useless now. He hadn't even brought his wand with him – foolishly thinking that he would not need it in his midnight stroll around the grounds in an effort to clear his head. His head that was filled with thoughts of the girl whose broken body now lay before him on the stone ground.

Why was she standing there at the top of the tower, on the outside or the railings? It didn't matter now. He had killed her. All he could think of as he kneeled over the crumpled form on the pavement was that he had killed the only girl he had ever loved. If only he hadn't called out to her. If only he had swallowed his pride and told her his feelings before this. 

As he saw the tip of her wand protruding from her cloak pocket he knew what he had to do. 

"I love you, Hermione. I'm sorry." Tears welled in his eyes as he spoke the words he could never manage to say to her while she lived. With trembling hands he took the wand and held its tip to his heart.

"_Avada Kedavra"_

~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~

They would be found the next morning by Madame Pince on her early morning yard duty to make sure none of the students were out of the castle before they were allowed.

Their bodies, huddled together in their deathly embrace, would be separated and moved.

The pavement would be scrubbed for hours on end by the bitter, overworked caretaker; but no amounts of Mrs. Skower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover would remove the stain that their blood had made on the pavers, for nothing could remove the mark that was made by their deaths.

'Twas a mark of love, my friends.

~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~o~*~

AN: Yes, that was dark for me. Tell me if you think it was crap. Tell me if you thought it was good. Should I write more dark fics? Let me know what you thought. Flames accepted.


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